Essence of Vedanta - Part 7

Three bodies continued....

Subtle Body or Astral Body or Linga Sharira

This Subtle or Astral body or the Linga Sharira surrounds around the physical body or the Sthula Sharira, as an Energy of Aura.

It is the reflection of the "Physical Body". Before the "Physical Body", it comes into existence. But later it builds around the physical body. The copy of the "Physical Body" parts are present in the "Astral Body". They are known as "Astral Senses".

Five organs of actions (karma indriyas), five organs of perception (jnana indriyas), 5 pranas, 5 elements, totaling to 20 and the discriminative intellect, ignorance, desire and action - all these together constitute the subtle body.

The discriminative intellect includes antah karana or the inner instruments - Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara. This has been explained in several posts under the theme MBCA in the blog and hence, we won't get into detail on this.

Subtle body is also known as linga sharira. Linga refers to something that has not been revealed.

When a person dies, the soul cannot quit the body without a medium or vehicle. So, this "Linga Sharira" acts as a vehicle for soul to come out of the body.

This body, completely fades out, when the physical body decomposes and vanishes. That is why "Cremation" of the "Physical Body" is done when a person dies.

Love.